ABUJA—SOUTHERN Nigerians in the United Kingdom have condemned military deployment in South East of the country, describing the deployment of army in the region as unconstitutional.

The group which is a coalition of various South-East, South-West, and South-South groups and professionals in the United Kingdom advised the Federal government to desist from the reprehensive act because the country is not at war.

The group, in a statement signed by Felix Adejumo, Tochukwu Ezeoke and Charles Omoregie, on behalf of Yoruba, Ibo an South South groups respectively ,after an emergency meeting in London, United Kingdom, noted that it wasls a waste of tax payers’ money for the Nigeria Army to be engaging in the duties of the Nigerian police and other security agencies.

The statement reads in part: “The conditions that allows for the deployment of the army in any part of the country as provided for in Section 217 (2)(c) of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution has not arisen.

“Therefore the Nigerian Army has no business getting involved in the traditional duties of the Nigeria Police.

“We, therefore, advise the Federal government to desist from this reprehensive act as Nigeria is not at war with itself or anyone as the circumstances provided for deployment of the Army has not arisen.

“Using the Nigerian Army to repel what appears to be a legitimate agitation by the people of the South East region demanding for a referendum, a legitimate right of any people is deplorable.

“This act of military deployment by the Nigeria government amounts to aggression in the absence of any breakdown of law and order.”

“ It is a waste of tax payer’s money for the Nigeria Army to be engaging in the duties of the Nigerian Police and other security agencies.

“We call on President Buhari to withdraw troops from the South-East immediately and also call on the United Nations and other International communities to prevail on President Buhari to cease this unwarranted attack on innocent citizens.”

In another development,the Nigeria Round Table, United Kingdom has declared support for the Ibadan Declaration by the South-west Nigeria.

The group described it as the way to go in sustaining peace, equity, security and development in Nigeria.

The group also indicated interest in partnering with the organisers to ensure that Nigeria was restructured to benefit all her citizens.

S-East, S-South Network condemns Army invasion of IPOB leader’s home

In a similar vein, a group under the aegis of South East-South South network, SESSNet, has condemned the invasion of leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu’s home in Umuahia, Abia State by security operatives, saying the invasion was a threat to the unity of the country.

The group in a statement made available to journalists via email described the development as unfortunate.

The group warned Nigerian Army not to take the patience of South-east and South-south Nigeria for weakness, saying that any attempt by Military to repeat what happened in Zaria, Kaduna state in the region will immediately lead to breakdown of law and order in the entire country.

The statement read: “The South East-South South Network vehemently condemns the military invasion of Nnamdi Kanu’s home.

“The development is a threat to peaceful co-existence of this nation and it is quite unfortunate that security operatives will descend so low by invading the residence of unarmed individual with Armoured Personnel Carrier, APC.

“We put on record that if the security operatives try to repeat what happened in Zaria, Kaduna state to Shiites – where over 300 unarmed civilians were killed by security operatives without any justification – the entire nation will be set ablaze from which the entire nation may not recover from.

“We hereby advise President Muhammadu Buhari and his security operatives not to exacerbate the already rising tension across the country.”